Six O'Clock Solution: Kale pals up with passata

Serve pasta dish as appetizer or main course

This pasta dish, made quickly with tomato sauce, kale and cheese, comes from The Book of Kale and Friends, by B.C. writers Sharon Hanna and Carol Pope.

Photograph by: Christina Symons
, Douglas & McIntyre

MONTREAL -- This fast and easy supper dish has a fresh taste thanks to kale and the uncooked Italian tomato sauce known as passata, available in Italian specialty stores or homemade using canned tomatoes. It’s a gluten-free vegetarian dish from The Book of Kale and Friends by British Columbia writers Sharon Hanna and Carol Pope (Douglas & McIntyre, $26.95), authors of the prize-winning 2012 cookbook The Book of Kale (Harbour Publishing). This book shows how this fashionable, nutritious, dark green vegetable can be used in a variety of dishes and takes to combinations with other super foods like arugula and herbs. Photographs by Christina Symons illustrate how to grow and prepare kale. The authors suggest ingredients to accent it, like nuts, root vegetables and cheese.

Kale Pasta with Rosé Sauce

Serves 4 as an appetizer, 2 as a main course

¾ cup passata*

8 ounces (225 g) pasta

2 cups chopped kale

1/3 cup whipping cream

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground pepper and salt

Parsley or basil

*Strain seeds and any cores from top-grade canned tomatoes (for example, San Marzano). Put through a sieve or food mill or blend in a blender to make a purée. Finely chopped garlic and basil may be included. Season with pepper.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water, until almost al dente. Add kale to the final two minutes of boiling time, and cook just until pasta is al dente.

Meanwhile, heat the passata in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble, then lower heat so it is just simmering. Stir in cream, and keep rosé sauce warm over very low heat. Do not permit to boil or it will curdle.

Drain pasta and kale and place in a heated pasta serving bowl. Gently fold in the sauce, followed by the cheese and pepper to taste. Salt is optional. Serve trimmed with parsley or basil.

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